Do you make a budget in advance for each month on your budget app?

Basically the only advice anyone can give to you is quit being lazy and pay your damn bills. Without groceries and meal prep you are going to continue to eat out. The only person that can change that is you. Get ingredients for easy things for lunch. Pack a sandwich instead of eating out. You spent $36/day on fast food! That's insane. I don't think I've spent $36 this month and I make significantly more than you. You need to start taking care of your collections and bills or you are going to wind up without a place to live, no car, and no job. Don't wait until you hit rock bottom.

Block delivery app from your phone. Stock fridge with things you like or can tolerate. Take credit card off things like food apps and Amazon. Maybe start dealing on cash for spending. Does laundramat cost $10 per visit once a week? That's 40. If $20per visit that is 80. What's the laptop for?

You make enough after the expenses you listed to clear your debt. Not in a timely manner but eventually. Please please check the wiki and help articles for budgeting. You need to do it.

Where do you order your fast food from? You go into the restaurant and order? or Doordash/UberEats, etc? Your food at home doesn't taste good because you probably don't know how to cook lol. Watch a cooking show to get you into a mood where you want to try cooking. Then go to the grocery store and do it. Experiment with spices.

Same question for shopping? Where do you do it? Directly on the store website? Via Instagram? It sounds like you have a problem where your mind goes to shopping when it is at rest. Is this true?

If so, when you want to shop for things you do not need, you will have to make yourself go to the grocery store and buy groceries. Obviously this will take your mind off of the mindless shopping you do. Come home and cook whatever you bought (not all of it obviously, maybe a few meals). Just make sure you cook before it goes bad obviously.

Here's a link to the PF Wiki for helpful guides and information.

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>I need help. Im already in therapy but maybe I need a separate therapist for this.

I would suggest exactly this. Bring it up with your current therapist and see what they suggest: I suspect that your current spending habits are largely a symptom of your mental health issues.

In the mean time, sit down with a spreadsheet/notebook and take stock of your current spending habits (it sounds like you already started this) and use that as a jumping off point to come up with a monthly budget. Write it out (or put it in a spreadsheet) and try to stick with it. If nothing else it will provide you with some structure and will give you guidance on what exactly you have to reign in. Simple rules like "no more online shopping" and "fast food no more than twice a week" will be easier to follow than a general goal of "spending less money."

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Your problem isn't financial. Your problem is behavioral and manifesting in your finances. Go seek professional help. When you know you don't want to do a thing but do it knowing you'll regret that is a mental schism that you can bridge with behavioral therapy, drugs, cognitive treatments, etc.

Talk to your therapist and see a psychiatrist. This is a mental health issue.

There really is no advice to give here other than talk to therapists. The reality is you shouldn’t be buying anything or eating out at all. Your path is on a trajectory for ending up homeless. You’ve gotten some forbearance on your rent but believe me your landlord is not going to be nice when he can finally evict you as you are costing them money.

So yes talk to a therapist asap.

This sounds closer to a mental health/unaddressed trauma issue that is manifesting in bad spending habits. I was in this cycle years ago and it’s difficult to break and far from just “don’t be lazy.” If that was the answer, I’m sure he would have rectified this issue by now instead of turning here.

This feels like stuff I’ve gone through years ago, that feeling that money has an “expiration date” and it should be spent soon while you still have it because you feel it will leave your hands. Unfortunately it is supposed to leave your hands to pay bills and rent. I promise that after the first few months of dedicated paying off bills, you will have fun money again.

For me, what worked was splitting my monthly bills and rent into two similar sized chunks. First paycheck would pay off the first chunk of bills and second payday would go toward the remaining bills and next months rent. Whatever is leftover after paying bills goes through my second phase of budgeting which is groceries, gas for the vehicle, and savings. While at the grocery store, I used to just purchase cheap crap. Ramen and Mac and cheese make decent affordable meals. Now I have shifted into meal prepping and recreating fast food items I enjoy. It’s a lot cheaper to make breakfast burritos that you just warm up in the microwave than picking up one from some place before work each morning.

After bills and rent and groceries and gas and savings, then you got your fun money.

I admit I’m not as financially savvy as most of the people in this sub, but maintaining my budget in this manner really pulled me out of bad financial times after my divorce. I hope it can help you.

Thank you everyone! I appreciate the honest truth , I know I for sure am using this to cope with mental issues. It’s hard but I need to focus on this in therapy for sure. I’m worried I’ll never get ahead because this is getting out of hand.

No I honestly don’t even use the app. I just look at it when I know I’ve messed up bad with my spending :/

Thank you. You’re absolutely right, it’s hard but I’m letting my mental issues dictate my future and it sucks.

This is 100% accurate. I feel like when I have the funds; if I spend it on bills it’s gone but if I spend it on stuff I want, it’s like I feel good and that I’m not “broke” when reality the spending could have gone to bills smh.

Thank you so much, I appreciate your advice. I agree, I definitely need to focus on rent the most. I get paid this week & im alrdy wanting to avoid paying towards rent, idk why spending on other stuff makes me feel like I have money left but putting it towards rent makes me feel like “I have nothing for 2 weeks.” It’s like I can’t see the bigger picture aka me Having shelter.

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Then making a zero sum based budget is your first step. There are several templates in the wiki that are straightforward to use.

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